“T-Mobile USA’s takeover of MetroPCS Communications Inc. has been thrown into doubt after an influential proxy adviser recommended against the combination, raising hopes on Wall Street for a sweeter deal,” Thomas Gryta reports for The Wall Street Journal.

“Pay-as-you-go wireless carrier MetroPCS agreed last year to merge with T-Mobile, creating a publicly traded company in which the T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom AG would own a 74% stake,” Gryta reports. “With the shareholder vote almost two weeks away, it is unclear how T-Mobile will proceed, but many analysts say Deutsche Telekom is unlikely to let the deal slip away.”

Gryta reports, “In a statement, MetroPCS said Institutional Shareholder Services’s report ‘contains material flaws and reaches the wrong conclusion,’ and that MetroPCS’s board continues to support the T-Mobile deal. It also said that Egan-Jones, another proxy advisory firm, recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the proposed combination with T-Mobile. U.S. regulators have approved the combination, leaving MetroPCS shareholders as the deal’s last major obstacle… Several analysts said they expected Deutsche Telekom to alter the terms. The speculation is based on the larger company’s limited alternate options and desire to make T-Mobile a public company.”